Newzdaddy Cricket Updates
India Vs West Indies First Test
Highlights from the first Test between India and the West Indies: After Day 1 of the first Test, Ashwin’s bowling and the opening partnership of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal had put India in the commanding position.
It was Ashwin who hit the first blow to the Windies by taking the wicket of Chandrapaul. Ashwin went on to take his 33rd Five wickets haul and 5th against West Indies.
After being dropped from the Indian team for the WTC final last month, Ravichandran Ashwin rejoined the squad on Wednesday. There was very little celebration shown by Ashwin instead showing his anger and frustration of not being included in playing 11 in the WTC Final. Ashwin proved to the Indian Team management what he is.
The West Indies team did not look solid and were not able to handle the class of Ashwin and Jadeja. They were having no clue or answers to the bowling of Indian spinners and fell in trap one by one.
West Indies were reduced to a meagre 150 in 64.3 overs thanks to Ashwin’s five-wicket haul for 60 runs in 24.3 overs. Ravindra Jadeja (3/26) also contributed with wickets.
It was good to see that five changes were made in the Indian test team which played the WTC Final last month. The changes were Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat.
The inclusion of Yashasvi and Ishan Kishan is the correct decision made by Roshit and Dravid as in my opinion. The inclusion of left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat is also good as it is providing variety in the bowling unit and Unadkat has done extremely well domestic circuit.
The first-innings deficit was reduced to 70 going into the second day thanks to the unbeaten partnership of 80 runs between captain Rohit Sharma (batting on 30) and rookie Yashasvi Jaiswal (40 not out).
If Yashasvi plays a long innings here then he will cement his place in the test squad as an opener making life a little easy for Rohit and Dravid providing a vital left-right combination.
India (Playing XI):
Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj.
West Indies (Playing XI):
Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva(w), Jason Holder, Rahkeem Cornwall, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican.
Also Read: West Indies vs. India: A contest between two underwhelming teams